Progress City, U.S.A.

One of Imagineer Tim Delaney’s famous renderings for EPCOT’s The Living Seas pavilion

The last time we spoke of Imagineer Tim Delaney was last year, when he departed Walt Disney Imagineering after thirty-three years with the company. Fans mourned his loss to WDI, as Delaney was a well-known name who had worked on a number of prominent and well-received projects throughout his career. I was glad to discover, then, that Delaney had landed on his feet and founded his own design studio. His website, which debuted a few months ago, provides a nice summary of his career to date and – even better – gives us lots of his fantastic conceptual art to view!

So before you drop in to check out his portfolio, here are a few of his pieces that I found most interesting. Delaney’s “break-through” came in the late 1970s with his well known conceptual renderings for EPCOT’s The Living Seas.

Conceptual art for The Living Seas

This rendering shows elements from the show and attraction originally conceived for the pavilion; this spectacular attraction was sadly abandoned when sponsorship problems forced Disney to cut the budget. Delaney’s rendering for Seas were so evocative and exciting, that the actual pavilion wound up being something of a disappointment when it actually debuted in 1986. An engineering triumph, to be sure, but nowhere near as expansive as Delaney’s original imaginative concepts. But that’s not all that he worked on for EPCOT.

Rendering of Future World for EPCOT Center, circa 1978

This exciting rendering shows the Future World section of EPCOT Center as it was envisioned in 1978. I love the energy in that piece. Delaney also did some conceptual work for EPCOT’s never-built but long-lamented Space pavilion.

Rendering of the main simulator attraction for the unbuilt EPCOT Space pavilion

Other key projects that Delaney worked on at WDI included Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris and Tomorrowland at Hong Kong Disneyland. He developed concepts large and small, including the much-lauded Disney Parks and Resorts exhibit for last year’s D23 Expo.

Rendering of Disney Parks & Resorts Exhibit for the D23 Expo

But you know what we’re really interested in – the attractions that never made it off the drawing boards. The blue sky concepts. The sneak peeks of possible future attractions. Here are some of my favorites from Delaney’s site. First, the projects that never came to be. Delaney worked on several of these, including resort hotels…

Rendering of Disney’s White Mountains Lodge

This resort, which I believe is one of the various Disney regional resorts that had been considered, is called the White Mountains Lodge. According to Google, there are White Mountains in both Arizona and New Hampshire; the New England setting better fits the summer and wintertime views that Delaney envisions.

One of the most prominent projects that Delaney worked on before he left Disney was the famous pirate-themed expansion for Hong Kong Disneyland. This vast area would have been a “mini-land” addition to Adventureland, with several rides deriving their themes from Pirates of the Caribbean. The area would have possibly included a variation of the Haunted Mansion, and of course a new iteration of the famous Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. This version of Pirates would have been more thrilling than previous incarnations, though; with no plans to bring Splash Mountain to Hong Kong, the new version of Pirates would have incorporated elements of that flume attraction and ended with a massive drop. And I think it would have gone a little something like this…

Guests plunge from Skull Rock in this concept for Hong Kong’s flume-based Pirates of the Caribbean attraction

Sadly, Hong Kong officials nixed this expansion. It would have been nice…

Concept art for Hong Kong Disneyland pirate village, 2006

But Delaney’s site also gives us a glimpse of what the future might hold, with concept art from 2008 for Shanghai Disneyland – some of the first development art we’ve seen for the park. Here, Delaney shows a few of his concept for the park’s Main Street area:

Concepts for Shanghai Disneyland’s Main Street by Tim Delaney

While these concepts probably differ greatly from what we’ll actually see when the new park (codenamed “Project Bueno”) opens later this decade, they at least give us an idea of what is being considered. For one thing, many have questioned if the new park will be a traditional “kingdom” style design. While these designs are certainly different from previous Main Street areas, they do indicate that the park will have a somewhat similar layout with a town square, Main Street, and Center Street.

The top sketch shows a Hollywood-themed Main Street, with the various traditional Main Street amenities themed to appropriate Hollywood landmarks. The arch over Center Street indicates that it leads to the “Walt Disney Studios.”

The center sketch shows Main Street as a “Forest Village”, with a fantasy-based enchanted forest feel. The bottom sketch depicts a “Whimsy” Main Street, with various far-out designs more reminiscent of Downtown Disney. Interestingly, Center Street in this design provides a “view to Hyperion Theater.”

One of my favorite designs is this imposing suggestion for a new Space Mountain, from 2008:

Rendering of a new Space Mountain, possibly for Shanghai Disneyland

That’s just a taste of what Delaney has on his site; head over and check out the rest, including more fantastic work on projects both built and unbuilt. And a few things that are mysterious but simply very cool…

I’ve no idea if this design for a “new Nautilus” was for any specific project, but wouldn’t it have looked cool in Hong Kong’s unbuilt Glacier Bay?

Good luck to Tim in all his future projects!

“George Morrow, Jimmy Allen and Mel Glass join together to perform nightly at our Golf Resort Hotel’s Trophy Room as the Dixie Deltas.”

GOLF RESORT’S DIXIE DELTAS ADDS A DANCE FLOOR

Our Golf Resort Hotel recently added a dance floor in the Trophy Room to make evening dining more entertaining. And performing nightly for your dancing pleasure is our own Dixie Deltas.

The group originally formed over two years ago out at Disneyland, coming to Florida to perform on our Admiral Joe Fowler and at the Golf Resort. With the opening of our Empress Lilly Riverboat, the Dixie Deltas joined the other entertainers at the Baton Rouge Lounge. But now they’re back at the Golf Resort with strolling music from 6 pm to 9 pm nightly and dancing music from 9pm to midnight. The Trophy Room serves an Italian menu from 5 pm to 10 pm with a fondue and dessert menu from 10 pm to midnight for our guests’ dining pleasure.

- Eyes and Ears, September 15th, 1978

Sounds pretty swanky, eh? Strolling music from six to nine? Fondue and dessert from ten ’til midnight?

There were obviously some pretty horrible aspects to having to live in the 1970s, but at least people had things like fondue and strolling music to get them through it…

1978 was a different time. Barely emerged from the Age of Aspic, America slowly began to look for more engaging foodstuffs. No longer content to chase down their flank steak and poached asparagus with a couple of old fashioneds and a kind word to the waitress, Americans wanted something more – they wanted dessert.

Thankfully, the forward-thinking visionaries at Walt Disney World were prepared. Tucked away in the secluded confines of the Golf Resort Hotel, the chefs at the Trophy Room restaurant had the answer – something from the very fringes of food science, French-Fried Ice Cream.

French-Fried Ice Cream at the Golf Resort, from the Fall 1978 Disney News

I love so much about this article. The sheer breathless prose about this exotic new substance is enough to get anyone excited, even well past the era when – if we’re to believe the chefs cited in the article – there were only two other restaurants serving this inconceivable concoction.

That’s not to say that the Trophy Room was slinging out any old fried ice cream. I have to say, the idea of serving it on a peach half is kind of genius. And it’s hard to resist anything that comes in a glass goblet with vanilla sauce and a sprig of mint. And, apparently, a garland of daisies.

So the next time you’re time-traveling be sure and drop by the Golf Resort – just don’t try and pry the mystery behind French-Fried Ice Cream from the chefs. Only through advanced science could this have occurred – who says that EPCOT was never realized?

How about a musical interlude? This clip from 1978’s Christmas at Walt Disney World is supremely goofy and random, but at least it’s not as horrifying as the Clinkers (although they make a cameo at the beginning of the clip!) and grotesque megababies. It also gives some sweet footage of aquatic recreation on Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon!

There’s a lot to laugh at in this video, but let’s watch first. Prepare for a megadose of 70’s machismo, as rockers Pablo Cruise (and their team of parrots) jam on the beaches of Discovery Island and yuk it up on the waters of the World:

Wow, right? Nothing like a little piratey molestation to kick off a fun evening at the beach! At least each of the band members got their very own parrot, even if they mostly have to stand around and watch the lead singer (who looks like Gordon Lightfoot got turned out by a Gibb brother). I especially enjoy the part in the middle where the guy does a huge air guitar solo during the song’s piano bit, then later we see the piano player (Benicio del Toro?) banging the ivories while we hear the guitar solo. Amazing.

Then there are the good times on the Seven Seas Lagoon. This is a retro watercraft bonanza. We get jet skis, water sprites, the old Disney catamarans, and the bumper boats. I especially enjoy the out-of-control water skier who nearly plows into the catamaran. No wake zone, dummies! At least the ever-responsible members of Pablo Cruise are sagacious enough to wear their lifejackets whilst motoring about.

If you really want the full Christmas at Walt Disney World experience, and want to truly understand how bizarre and confusing this special is, you’ll create the following playlist. Immediately after show’s opening credits, it went without prologue or explanation into the Clinkers clip. That, as you can tell, segued into this number. Call me an ignoramus, but I was unaware of the Pablo Cruise phenomenon so this was doubly baffling. Then, after this segment, we fade straight into the baby thing. All without any explanation, or context, or anything.

And, although I’ve mentioned it already, there were the parrots. Man, Pablo Cruise must have loved parrots. Someone was dead set on keeping those parrots front and center. “Look! We have parrots at Walt Disney World! Book today!”

Too bad they couldn’t fit in a trip to River Country…

And you thought the Clinkers were bad?

I’ve been holding on to this one, out of fears of potential prosecution for human rights abuses. But it’s Christmas, after all, and it’s Christmastime at Walt Disney World…